J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing Review 2023

How we ranked fees

We ranked J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing's fee levels as low, average or high based on how they compare to those of all reviewed brokers.

First, let's go over some basic terms related to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees and non-trading fees.

• Trading fees occur when you trade. These can be commissions, spreads, financing rates and conversion fees.
• Non-trading fees include charges not directly related to trading, like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

In the sections below, you will find the most relevant fees of J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing for each asset class. For example, in the case of stock investing the most important fees are commissions.

We also compared J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing's fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, Vanguard and Ally Invest. This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed rundown of J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing alternatives.

To have a clear overview of J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing, let's start with its trading fees.

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing trading fees

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing trading fees are low for all asset classes. 

Stock fees and ETF fees

J.P. Morgan launched J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing (formerly Chase You Invest) in 2018 as a commission-free service. The broker does not charge any fees or commissions for trading US stocks, ETFs, mutual funds and US bonds.

Nevertheless, they do pass on the regulatory and stock exchange costs to clients. Their costs are still competitive, as they charge only $0.01-0.03 per $1,000 principal for US stocks and ETFs, and a $0.65 per-contract fee for option trades. 

Fund fees

Trading mutual funds at J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing is free of charge. In our experience, this is a superb and rather unique feature for a broker. For instance, Vanguard's funds are quite pricey.

Bond fees

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing has generally low bond fees in comparison with the other brokers we tested.

If you trade US Treasury bills, notes, bonds or corporate bonds, municipal bonds, government agency bonds, and brokered CDs on primary markets, you will not encounter any trading fees at You Invest.

For secondary market bond trades, You Invest charges $10 per trade plus $1 per bond over 10 pieces of bonds traded (maximum fee is $250). 

Foreign bonds are subject to additional fees. 

Options fees

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing options fees are competitive: they only charge $0.65 per option contract. There's also an additional transaction fee ranging between $0.02 and $0.05 per contract.

Non-trading fees

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing has low non-trading fees. No account fee or inactivity fee is charged.

Note that no withdrawal fee applies if you have an account at Chase or use an ACH transfer. Withdrawals to other banks via wire transfer cost $25. We tested J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing as a Chase client, so we didn't pay a withdrawal fee.

Can you open an account?

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At the time of our test, only US residents could open an account at J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing.

What is the minimum deposit at J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing?

The required J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing minimum deposit is $0. This is ideal if you plan to invest smaller amounts. Bear in mind that if you want to use the Portfolio Builder service, you need to have a minimum account balance of $2,500.  

Account types

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing offers 3 account types:

Interestingly, corporate accounts are not available.

In this review, we tested the General Investment Account. The account opening process is different if you are already a client of Chase or J.P. Morgan. We used our existing Chase checking account.

How to open an account

We really liked the fast and user-friendly process that was fully digital. It took one day with the existing Chase checking account, and we assume that non-Chase clients are treated in the same manner. The simplicity and speed of the process is unusual for US brokers, the account opening at Interactive Brokers, for instance, is more complicated.

So what does the process look like? You have to complete a 6-step registration process, which takes roughly 25 minutes. Some of the questions you need to answer refer to your personal information and data, while others are aimed at testing your trading knowledge.

During the registration process, you have to verify your identity and residency by providing the following:

• Your age (older than 18 or not)
• Social Security Number
• Your driver's license, ID or passport for identity check
• Bank statement or utility bill for proof of residency

Account base currencies

At J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing, the only available base currency is the USD.

If you have a personal bank account in a currency other than USD, then you will be charged a conversion fee.

A convenient way to save on currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. These usually offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates, as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. Opening an account only takes a few minutes on your phone.

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Deposit fees and options

Depositing funds in your account is free if you have a J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing account or if you transfer using ACH. However, wire transfers from other banks cost $25.

These conditions are similar to those offered by the main competitors of J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing.

It's worth noting that a bank transfer can take several business days and you can only deposit money from accounts in your name.

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing withdrawal fees and options

Withdrawals are free if you have a J.P. Morgan account or use ACH transfer, otherwise wire transfers will cost you $25.

How long does it take to withdraw money from J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing? In our test, bank transfer withdrawal took 1 business day.

You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name.

You can withdraw money from J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing by following these steps:

• Log in to the account
• Select 'Pay & Transfer'
• Select 'Transfer money'
• Select the You Invest Trade account as 'Transfer from' and the other account as 'Transfer to'
• Enter the amount you wish to withdraw
• Initiate the withdrawal

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing has the same web trading platform as its parent company. If you are a Chase client, you can bank and trade from the same platform. The web trading platform is available in English and Spanish.

Look and feel

The J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing web trading platform is user-friendly and a satisfying user experience is guaranteed. Unfortunately, the platform is not customizable.

Login and security

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing provides only one-step login authentication. We found it a bit inconvenient that users have to register a new device if they log in from a device not used before (i.e. your phone or tablet). You are sent a code during registration via text, email, or phone and you can register your new device by entering this code. This is an extra step in ensuring safety but we still think a regular two-step authentication would be safer.

After registration, you can access your account using your regular user ID and password.

Search functions

The search functions work just fine. When you start typing a company's name or an asset ticker, a list of the relevant results is displayed.

Placing orders

You can use the following order types:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop-loss
• Stop limit

If you are not familiar with basic order types, read this overview.

You can choose a couple of order validity restrictions:

• Good 'til canceled (GTC)
• Good 'til the end of the day (GTD)
• On the Open
• On the Close
• Immediate or Cancel (IOC)

Alerts and notifications

Unfortunately, you cannot set alerts and notifications.

Portfolio and fee reports

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing has a clear portfolio report but lacks a clear fee report. The pie charts help you understand to what extent your portfolio is diversified, which is very useful. The fee report would help to see the costs paid to the broker.

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Though the web and the mobile trading platforms are very similar, we salute the simplicity and easy handling of the mobile trading platform. That is why we gave a higher score to the J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing mobile trading platform than the web trading platform.

The Chase Mobile app is available on iOS and Android devices. We tested it on iOS. The mobile trading platform is available in English only.

Users can enable biometric authentication in the form of fingerprints and voice ID checks. The latest is a security feature that verifies the sound of your voice when you call the Chase customer service center, allowing fast and secure access to your account. It is still not as safe as a two-step login, but more convenient from the user's point of view.

A major difference compared to the web trading platform is that you can't trade bonds through the mobile trading platform, which is strange.

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J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing has an acceptable fund and bond offering but lags behind in terms of stocks and ETFs.

Stocks and ETFs

At J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing, clients can trade around 5,000 stocks and 2,000 ETFs. The available stocks and ETFs are traded only on major US stock exchanges.

Usually, we benchmark brokers by comparing how many markets they cover. It is hard to figure out how many exchanges J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing covers based on the information on their website and the trading platform. If you want to trade smaller US stocks or non-US stocks, it is best to contact their customer support first. 

You can't trade low-priced stocks or “penny stocks”.

Funds

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing offers around 3,300 mutual funds from 60 different fund providers.

Bonds

Similarly to funds, the selection of bonds is generally OK.

Available products include US Treasury bills, notes and bonds, municipal and corporate bonds, as well as foreign bonds.

Options

It is hard to estimate which option markets are available at J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing. We can only assume that clients have access to the biggest ones, like the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE).

Portfolio Builder

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing's Portfolio Builder service is a mix of mutual funds and robo-advisory. It is a great tool if you need help in managing your investments.

First, you have to answer questions about your investment goals, risk tolerance and the time horizon of your investments. The Portfolio Builder creates a portfolio based on your answers.

You have to commit at least $2,500 to start using the Portfolio Builder.

The research tools are located under the 'Markets' section on the You Invest Trading Platform. 

Trading ideas

Unfortunately, J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing does not provide trading ideas or recommendations.

Fundamental data

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing offers fundamental data for the majority of available assets, but these are very basic like company profile, market capitalization, beta and P/E ratio.

The are detailed analyses, called Company reports, for the biggest US companies (Apple, Tesla, Netflix, etc.) prepared by the J.P. Morgan research team.

Charting

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing has poor charting tools: you can use only 21 technical indicators, which is less than at most competitors. Unfortunately, you can only compare a chart with the charts of other assets, no technical drawing tools are available. 

News feed

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing offers a news feed provided by Comtex. The format is easy to read but lacks visual elements, like charts or pictures. 

Other research tools you may enjoy

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing offers a high-quality screener tool. The numerous filters embedded into the screener help filter assets based on sector, market capitalization, performance, etc.

With respect to funds, Morningstar ratings are also available. Morningstar ratings go from 1 to 5 stars and describe a particular fund's perfomance relative to similar funds. The top 10% of funds receive 5 stars, while the bottom 10% are assigned 1 star.

Compare research pros and cons

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing offers only phone support for customers; although you can send secure messages, there is no email or chat support.

Phone support is available in English and Spanish. 

There are a lot of Chase branches throughout the US. If you visit a branch, you can contact a J.P. Morgan adviser or your Chase representative/private banker for general information.

Customer support is available from Monday to Friday from 8 AM to 9 PM and Saturday from 9 AM to 5 PM ET. We missed 24/7 availability.

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The educational materials are available under the 'Top Stories' tab of the J.P. Morgan Wealth Management site, with the section called "The Know". 

At J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing you can learn in the following ways:

• General educational videos
• Quality educational articles

General educational videos cover basic concepts for beginners, such as stock market or diversification.

The other source of development is the article section, which is definitely worth checking out. The materials cover a wide range of topics, including investment jargon, investment strategies and planning.

In your account portal, each page contains an FAQ, a glossary and a summary page; it's super easy to understand the covered topics and the functions.

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Is J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing regulated?

Yes, it is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing is based in the USA and was established by J.P. Morgan in 2018. The parent company J.P. Morgan has a long track record.

Is J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing safe?

To be certain if a brokerage is safe, we highly advise that you check two facts:

• how you are protected if something goes wrong
• what the background of the broker is

How you are protected

The investor protection amount and the regulator may differ from entity to entity.  With J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing this is not an issue though as all customers are covered by J.P. Morgan Securities LLC. 

The SIPC investor protection shields investors from the loss of cash and securities in case the broker goes bust. The limit of SIPC protection is $500,000, with a $250,000 cash limit.

Not all investments are protected by SIPC. In general, SIPC covers notes, stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other investment company shares as well as various registered securities. It does not cover instruments such as unregistered investment contracts or limited partnerships, fixed annuity contracts, currency, and gold, silver or other commodity futures contracts or commodity options.

Similarly to other US brokers, J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing does not provide negative balance protection. That means you are not protected if the balance on your account goes into negative.

Background

The parent company of J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing is J.P. Morgan, one of the oldest and most powerful names in investment banking wordwide. The longer track record a broker has, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.

The fact that the parent company has a banking license means that J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing is also subject to tougher regulations than brokers. What's more, J.P. Morgan is listed on the stock exchange, which is a big plus for safety as it requires the publication of financial statements regularly and transparently.

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing's safety profile is greatly boosted by the fact that the broker's parent company has a banking background, is listed on the stock exchange and is overseen by top-tier regulators.

Find your safe broker

We recommend J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing (formerly Chase You Invest) for beginners and buy-and-hold investors focusing on the US stock market.

Below you can find links to all aspects of J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing in this comprehensive collection.

Lower fees, lower costs?

We detailed this in our J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing fees article.

What about the minimum deposit?

Our ultimate guide to the J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing minimum deposit is updated regularly.

How to start your J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing account?

Look no further than our evaluation of the J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing account opening.

How's their trading app?

Here's our expert view after checking the J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing trading app.

Is the quality of customer service satisfactory?

All you need to know about the J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing customer service.

Legit or scam?

Is J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing legit features all the key aspects you need to look at to see if a broker is safe and legit.

Free or premium? Or both?

A glance at actual costs and whether J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing is really free.

Is this broker good for beginners?

We checked it in Is J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing good for beginners.

Should you buy your silver bullets on J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing?

Research for silver bugs in the Silver buy on J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing guide

I want to trade options, are they available at J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing?

We explored the topic in Can you trade options on J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing?

What is the minimum account balance at J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing?

Check out the current account balance requirements at J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing in our What is the minimum account balance at J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing article.

Looking for commission and fees data for J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing?

We collected them in J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing commission and fees.

How do you withdraw money from J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing?

We tested it and collected the options and costs in How to withdraw money on J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing.